Prototype Review

(This is quite late.  I’ve been sitting on this review waiting for the breathing space to actually upload since mid-August.  Better late than never though eh?  It’s probably available quite cheaply now as well.)

It’s no secret, but i quite like super-powered characters.  I’ve been a fairly avid comic book collector for many years now, and one of the key draws for me has been super-powered characters.  I think it’s the “what if…” that always rings most true to me.  What if someone could fly?  What if someone could control things with their mind?  What if someone became a lethal, sentient, super-disease?  And that’s really what you get to have a go at in Prototype.

From the same people – Radical Entertainment, who gave me one of my favourite Superhero gaming experiences to date in Incredible Hulk : Ultimate Destruction – comes a game with a very similarly powered character.  In fact, with several notable exceptions, you could practically play the game and pretend you were the Hulk.  You can throw cars around, deliver deadly shockwave-style attacks, even give yourself a pair Hulk fists. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if what they wanted was to just make a next-gen Hulk game, but lost out to some other developer.

You control Alex Mercer, and to start off with you are pretty powerful.  This is a flash-forward to what will be and gives you a tantalising glimpse of what’s to come.  Then it goes back to the beginning.  A city on the verge of an epidemic that would belittle even real world tabloids’ paroxysms of apocalyptic hyperbole.  With no memory and the interest of some zealous military types, you are on the run, in the big city.  Slowly piecing together the events that brought you to where you are.

Unlike most games the story is something you have to actively seek, this is done by absorbing specific characters and it is the absorbing that also provides you with some upgrades and new abilities.  I found absorbing to gain the story was interesting, but made the story a little piecemeal.  Possibly this was due to my not finding the people to absorb, but it did become a little hard to keep track of, especially as the story was basically made up of snippets of experiences taken from hundreds of people.

Whether it’s a Hulk wannabe or not, the game’s still got plenty of other gameplay mechanics to offer.  As mentioned before you can absorb people to gain memories and skills, the same mechanic also awards you with the appearance of whoever you last absorbed.  This means you can use it to help you evade capture and also to infiltrate bases.  When running parkour style about the city a leap of a building can be followed by a glide, you can take over tanks and helicopters and commandeer these, you can call in artillery strikes on targets, pick up guns and rocket launchers, and generally bring about as much havok as you feel comfortable.

For the most part it’s pretty good fun being the most destructive force around, only problem is to counteract your super-ness, the game just really stacks the odds against you.  In fact if ever there was a game that i’ve played this year that induced a lot of swearing it was definitely this one.  Swarms of enemies with lots of knockback attacks and explosions and unstoppable combos really can be a bit much, even if you’re in control of a supposed power house. 

But this isn’t my biggest gripe with the game.  Over the course of the “story”, Alex never really sits easy with any particular type of morality.  He’s not really either good or evil, which is fine, the grey area is a place that most game characters find themselves in.  It’s more that when you find out what actually happened, well it made Alex seem like, at the very best, a malicious idiot.  His moral standing, or lack thereof, was irrelevant.  I felt an odd shame of being in control of him the whole time. 

Still if you can get over this, then there’s a quite a lot to do, and it often looks and feels cool to be doing it.  If a dislike of the character you are controlling is still a problem, then you can just pretend you’re a slim-line Hulk in a hoodie.

Bob’s 2009 gaming wishlist – Revisited

A while back i posted a list of hopes and dreams of games to come.  As time has passed five of them i’ve picked up (Batman Arkham Asylum, Prototype, Scribblenauts, Moving Notepad, and Sacred 2), one of them i became a lot less interested in when i had a chance to play (Ghostbusters) and one of them is due out in a few weeks time (Modern Warfare 2).  The remaining five have all slipped back to next year.

I’m pretty sure that two of these have made the move because of Modern Warfare 2 (Bioshock 2 and Red Dead Redemption).  DC Universe Online and Final Fantasy XIII are more likely to have been the victim of over-expectant development schedules, and Infinite Space is most likely fallen foul of the difficulty with which niche JRPG’s have in finding Western publishers.  (Something which is annoyingly keeping Demon’s Souls from having a European release although it’s reviews and demand is exceptional.)

Unusually for this time of year, the actual crop of games due for your release has diminished, with many blaming the assumed might of Modern Warfare 2 causing many publishers to shy away to the start of next year.  To be honest, i’m not too bothered by this.  Yes it gives me the task of avoiding buying some games so that there’s something to want for Christmas, but there’s still one or two gems to come.

For a start Borderlands is out on Friday.  With it’s local co-op splitscreen and absurd, and supposedly neatly distinct and varied, range of weapons counting the “Bazillions”.  I’ve been keen on this for a while, and the unique selling point of “Bazillions” of weapons seems to be holding out quite well.  I would have liked to have been able to customise them to my liking rather than having the random, RPG-esque loot drops, yet i’m still pretty psyched about it’s arrival.

Then there’s the almighty L4D2, with a whole host of new special infected, weapons, additional gameplay modes, alledgedly more dynamic AI director, and stronger – although that might just mean existent – story line.  This was shamefully missing from my original 2009 wishlist – possibly not announced at that point – but has been the cause of much excitement and expectation.  Roll on the demo!

Going cross-platform

Not long ago…  (Ok, quite long ago judging by the apparent death of this blog in recent months.)

I’ll start again…

A while back Giles raised the point of fanboyism. I responded to this post with the story of my resisting the PS3 and how i went from being a Sony fanboy to a hater.

My resistance to the PS3 was pretty much one part feeling of betrayal and two parts baulking at the price tag, with the second definitely contributing to the first. This meant that when the PS3 Slim came along, what was once stubborn refusal soon gave way to a nerdish desire. I had always coveted Little Big Planet and have been a big fan of the Sony exclusive God of War series, so having an opportunity to acquire these, or at least the console that would let me play them, and at a more palatable price, got me down to Game and putting down a preorder.

In the time after getting it, i’ve restricted myself to PS3 exclusives, favouring the Xbox for the cross-platform games due to having more Xbox owning friends. I’ve not done the maths but it strikes me that there aren’t that many must have PS3 exclusives. I picked up Little Big Planet and Killzone 2 immediately, and have regretted neither. Shortly after i also got Uncharted : Drakes Fortune, Infamous and Ratchet and Clank : Tools of Destruction. Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank have had considerable play time, Infamous considerably less (due mostly to the outstanding quality of the other games when compared to it!)

It didn’t take me long to get reacquainted with the PS3 controller, very familiar, light and a good rumble pack, but let down by stubby lower shoulder buttons – i guess i’m spoilt by the great big triggers of the Xbox 360 controllers.  I did find that for £3  handy plastic extenders could be bought that made them a lot more user friendly.

Getting online was pretty easy and completely free, and the online store uses real money, so no guessing how much you’re actually spending when using it. The web interface is usable and allows access to both iPlayer and Youtube, which is nice.

It’s also practically whisper quiet which means little to no distracting whirring when playing a stealthy part of a game – i always find that a bit of a mood breaker on the Xbox, even when i think i’ve got used to it.

All this said, i’m quite aware that it doesn’t appear to be an essential purchase. If you’ve got an Xbox and are focussed on the games available for it, then you can happily live in ignorance. However, if, like me, you’ve looked at the world of games and seen several gems that will always be out of your reach and find it hard to live with that, then i would say go for it. There’s very little comparable to Little Big Planet and the upcoming Uncharted 2 on the Xbox. It’s also free to go online, but with sparse to non-existent party and comms support. (Surprisingly a mixed blessing as i’m also yet to experience the pain of an annoying 12 year old screeching abuse at me when playing online.)

(Note : It’s yet to be seen whether Playstations other big steps towards game types outside of the Xbox’s scope (MAG and DC Universe) will be additions to the list of must-haves, but the potential i’ve seen and the lack of lag i’ve experienced in other games bodes well for both of them.  That and i’m a massive DC comics fan. )

High Concept

My friend Tim is spending the evening home alone tonight as his wife is out and so he’s decided to watch a film, specifically the sort of film that his wife won’t normally let him watch.  Searching through the Virgin on-demand service he discovered a made-for-TV movie by the name of  “Hammer of Gods” and immediately decided this was the film for him, despite the fact that:

(a) It stars no-one you’ve ever heard of.
(b) It’s directed by a guy whose only previous work is “Copperhead”, another TV movie about cowboys being attacked by snakes.
(c) It’s got a rating 3.5/10 on IMBD.

So, why has he decided to watch it?  Simple, because the tagline is “Vikings vs. Werewolves”.  As the man himself said, “All they’d need to do would be to add in some ninjas and it would be the best film ever!”.

So this got me thinking, is there a film concept that would intrigue you so much that you’d pay to see it even if even everyone else in the world told you it was absolute crap?  The most recent example I can think of was when I got a DVD from Lovefilm because it was a horror film where the killer was a Mexican wrestler  called “Wrestlemaniac”.  It was truly awful.

Harry Potter: 2 to go

Spoiler free as far as I can think………

 

So, anyone else seen HP aTHBP yet?

I’ve been meaning to write a proper review but time is not my friend.  So here come the bullet points:

Good:

• Alan Rickman = Snape.  Best casting ever?
• Good sense of brooding menace.
• Funny.  Much more so than the others IIRC.
• Emotional – again, more so than the previous films and perhaps, the books.
• Acting.  Maybe I’m just getting old and soft but Ron in particular seemed a lot lot better.  Tom Riddle was excellent and I thought Malfoy did well given quite a tough part.

Bad

• Lacking action.  Blame this on the book but….
• Fumbled the finale.  Hard to go into without spoilers but this was an obvious set-piece for me – where did it go?  I thought the same about a few set pieces from the book but what was strange was they introduced other action themselves which worked well.  I’d love to know more about their thinking.
• The word “Tosser”.  I’m no Daily Mail reader but it just seemed really jarring.  I suppose the idea was to show they are normal kids but one word (used twice) in 6 films seems a bit token!
• It’s only setting up the next one….

Now I know that’s a cheap criticism given I’ve read the books but it really struck me as an interesting reaction.  I think on some level I gave the book some credit/leeway as setting up the Deathly Hallows but it bothered me as a film.  

I guess this could be a difference between my expectation for books and films but then there are plenty of “Empire Strikes Back” examples to counter that argument.  I think it’s more about pacing.  As the penultimate story it was fine… but its not the penultimate film and for some reason that made it irritating. 

So all in all a solid 3/5 from me.  I’m looking forward to the last one, just wish there were not two of them!

As usual, maybe I’m over-analysing – anyone else seen it?

Game Naming Fail

Now I’m the Faction leader, so what name would I give to my favourite Grandson?  That’s right, Arses:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2681571&l=458517471c&id=619635123

Supposedly it’s a random name, but I can’t help thinking the computer is mocking me.

The Spicy Affair, Cherry Orchard Road, Croydon

On Saturday night myself and 5 friends (including 3 fellow WWRS reviewers who will no doubt give their own verdict) went to The Spicy Affair, a new Indian restaurant in Cherry Orchard Road, East Croydon.  I’d heard mostly good things about it so was looking forward to comparing it with it’s extensive competition. 

Initial signs were good.  It was very nicely decorated and there was plenty of room around each table so you didn’t feel like you were being crammed into as small an area as possible to increase the restauant’s capacity.  They also had Cobra on tap rather than in bottles, which is always good, and the menu was extensive to say the least.  Most importantly of all, the clientele consisted almost entirely of Indian people rather than boozed up English louts, confirming the claims on their promotional material that they are “maintaining traditional, authentic experience with modern contemporary cuisine” rather than just pampering to the English market.

Unfortunately, I have a confession to make.  You see, while I like to think my tastes have matured in the last few years and I now appreciate the merits of paying that bit extra for quality dining, it seems that when it comes to Indian food I am still an Englsh pleb.  Almost everytime I go out for a curry and decide to order something “unusual” I immediately regret it and wish I’d had an onion bhaji and a chicken korma.  This Saturday was no exception.  I started with some deep fried paneer which had a nice dressing of some kind but the cheese itself was rubbery and tasteless.  I then tried a “Chicken Handi” which turned out to be far hotter than I’m used to and, either as a result of the excess heat or my unrefined pallette, didn’t really tatse that great either.  To top it all off the pulau rice had peas and carrots randomly added to it and the naan bread was thin, greasy and crispy.

So all in all I wasn’t impressed with the food.  However, the service was excellent, the staff were extremely nice and the prices were very reasonable, especially for the beer which was £3 a pint compared to the £6 a bottle you can pay in some places.  If there were other people who were going and I got invited along then I think I would probably give it another chance on the basis that I might just have been unlucky with my food choices, but it certainly won’t be replacing Zafran as my local Indian of choice.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

There were 2 main reasons why I wanted to add “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” to my Lovefilm list.  Firstly, I kept reading how it was a return to form for Woody Allen and realised that, despite him directing 43 films, I had only ever seen one of them which was the interesting, but not great, “Match Point”.  The second reason I wanted to see it was Scarlett Johansson who, let’s face it, is gorgeous.  I’m not surpised Woody Allen described her as “sexually overwhelming”.  Anyway, put it on my list I did and last week it turned up in time for me to watch it on my night off from exercising.

The film centers around two young women, Vicky (English actress Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett), who spend a summer in Barcelona whilst at college.  One night they encounter the mysterious painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) who, being the unashamed and rather direct Spaniard he is, asks them to fly to a small countryside town with him for the weekend so that they can eat good food, drink good wine and then have a threesome.  Vicky, who is engaged and somehat prim and proper, is appalled at his suggestion, whilst Cristina, who thinks of herself as a free spirit (and fancies the pants off Juan Antonio) reckons it’s a great idea.  Somehow Vicky is persuaded to tag along so off they all go.  There they get into all sorts of romantic entaglements, not least when Juan Antonio’s craxy ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) turns up.

First things first, Scarlett is, as hoped, extremely attractive in this film.  However, she’s also the least interesting thing in it.  I’m not saying she is bad actress, maybe it’s just that her character isn’t as complicated or intriguing as the others, but the others just blow her out of the water.  Rebecca Hall is completely convincing as the confused and conflicted Vicky and you can really feel what she’s going through all the way through the film.  But it’s the two Spaniards who really steal the show with a couple of incredible performances and amazing chemistry, possibly the result of having already made several films together. Credit must go to Woody Allen too for making both the country and their way of life incredibly appealing and, having never been to Spain, I’m certainly adding it to my list of holiday destinations.  My only real criticism is that the story is a little bit predictable in parts and the conclusion not completely satisfying, but it’s still very enjoyable and certainly more fun that “Match Point” was.

4 out of 5

Diary Of A Dead XBox Owner * (Updated)

(* It’s the XBox that is dead, not the owner!)

Sunday 12th July – Today at midday my XBox died.  Much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued.  Spent a few hours on the internet trying to work out if I could fix it myself but then gave in and sent off e-mail to Microsoft support.  Watched 2 DVDs and played Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 on the PC for the rest of the day to keep myself occupied.  My roller coasters also broke. Typical.

Monday 13^th July – Got reply back from Microsoft while I was at work but decided to wait until I got home to read it as I’m not supposed to check web e-mail in the office.  Spent extra long in the gym after work as no need to rush home. Tried to use the shoulder press machine but the seat broke when I sat on it.  *Sigh*  Went home and read e-mail from Microsoft and discovered I needed a printer to print out a label, so decided I would have to do it work after all.  Played more Roller Coaster Tycoon.

Tuesday 14^th July – Got into work early and went onto the Xbox website to sort out the repair before other people got in and started asking questions.  Discovered that the website is blocked by my company’s web filter.  Arse.  Decided to do some work instead but then had power cut which meant my computer didn’t work for the rest of the day even though everyone else in the office seemed to be okay.  I’m starting to wonder if I’ve enraged some gypsy women or something.  Back at home I managed to complete the Xbox registration and log my repair request, at which point I discovered that the thing I needed to print would be e-mailed me to, so I could have done that on the Monday night after all.  Ho hum.  Went to football, scored 2 goals (both in the right goal) and didn’t break anything.

Wednesday 15^th July – Got into work and thankfully the UPS website isn’t blocked so I printed out my UPS label.  Discovered that Sam still had the box they sent his Xbox back in so went round after work and pinched that.  When I got home I packaged everything up and then watched “Vicky Christina Barcelona”.  The only thing that broke was my heart when I realised Scarlett Johansen will never go out with me.  Damn that Ryan Reynolds!

Thursday 16^th July – Took my packaged XBox to the UPS depot this morning to drop it off.  Turns out that it was the wrong depot thanks to some dodgy directions from their website.  Finally found the right one, the guy behind the desk took one look at me as I walked in and said “XBox?” So much for Microsoft’s cunning plan of ensuring it remains unrecognisable during transit.  Still, it’s on its way now.  Went to the gym after work again, burnt off another 1000 calories on the cardio machines and then worked the guns.  Went home and watched “Redbelt” which was excellent, thinking about signing up for Jui Jitsu lessons.

Friday 17^th July – Turns out it wasn’t on its way after all.  Checked UPS tracking site this morning and it didn’t leave Crawley until 7.45pm last night, 11 hours after I dropped it off.  An hour and a half later it arrived in Barking.  My geography isn’t great, but isn’t that in the opposite direction to Frankfurt?  It then left Barking at 7.26am this morning and is due to arrive in Frankfurt on, wait for it….  Monday!!  I could go out right now and pinch a bike from the bike sheds and I’d be in Frankfurt before then!!!  Rubbish.  Never mind, I had a very good night at The Glamorgan celebrating Mik’s pre-Stag Do Do.

Saturday 18th July – My head felt a little broken this morning but not enough to stop me from heading off to the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park to see “The Importance Of Being Earnest”.  It was a very good day, with upside down squirrels and rather spicy curries and nothing at all broken.  Result.

Sunday 19th July – Checked the UPS website this morning and they said that my XBox had been delivered to Frankfurt yesterday, 2 days ahead of schedule.  Excellent!  Went onto the Microsoft site and got really excited for a brief moment until I realised that where it said “Your XBox has been fixed and shipped back to you” was just an explanation of the different stages of the process and not the status of mine.  In fact they were still saying that mine hadn’t arrived yet so I’m not sure where UPS have delivered it to.  Decided to play on my PC for a bit only to discover that my DVD ROM drive had, you guessed it, broken!  What is going on in my flat?!?  So I decided to take the opportunity to have a bit of a clean and tidy up and even put up a mirror which I’ve had sitting around for 6 months.  Went round to my Dad’s for lunch and then watched “Get Smart” with Sam and Georgie in the afternoon, which was really nice.  On a tip-off from Sam I sent a text to Colin to see if he had a spare DVD drive lying about which I could buy but sadly he said he hadn’t.  However, later on that day he contacted me again to say that he’d been round to his Dad’s in the afternoon and learnt that he was throwing out his old computer which had a fully functioning DVD re-writer that I could have.  Woo hoo!  Picked it up on my way home and then spent an hour trying to fit it due to a series of mishaps.  First of all the screw holding the old one in sheared off so I couldn’t take it out, so instead I decided to put the new one in a different slot.  Then it turned out that as well as the plastic shielding there was a metal plate across each slot which I had to poke out and for some bizarre reason they had been screwed to the frame in such a way that you couldn’t get to the screws without taking apart the whole case!  Eventually I got there, put it all back together, turned it on and realised I had plugged the old one back in.  D’oh!  At about 10.30pm I finally got there and it seems to be working fine, huzzah.  I wonder what treats the next week will hold.

Stay tuned for further updates.

Sleeping with the Enemies

I, like many of  our circle have been eagerly awaiting the latest film, Public Enemies from Michael Mann. Admittedly, I can’t say I was all that fascinated with the story of thirties gangster John Dillinger and the early Investigation Bureau’s (they weren’t Federal yet apparently!) attempts to catch him. However the promise of Johnny Depp and Christian Bale going toe to toe as the protaganist and his pursuer, and Mann’s back catalogue which includes one of my favourite films (Collateral), piqued my interest and so Bob was duly nagged into coming to see it with me.

 Depp, as usual, lights up the screen as the charming, arrogant, thrill-seeker Dillinger.  Perhaps my favourite scene in the movie is where he calmly and almost disinterestedly wanders into the police station and passes the time of day with the cops on the task force hunting him down.  He loves the adrenaline and notoriety that his crimes gives him, and it is this taste of the highlife and his desire to have everything that leads to his downfall.  I am a little unsure why he appears to be wearing eye-liner throughout the film however – maybe he still hasn’t been able to get it all off after Captain Jack?! Marion Cotillard is luminous as Dillinger’s love interest Billie Frechette. Throughout the film, you can almost see one side of her brain trying to talk some sense into the other half as she knows that her relationship with Dillinger can only end one way, but at the same time, she is unable to break away from the excitement that he offers her. Their relationship is well portrayed and the two actors have great chemistry. The cops and “G-men” however, fare less well. For the second time this summer, Christian Bale has to deal with a character that doesn’t seem to have had enough time or attention put into them. It could be argued that this is deliberate as it is undoubtedly supposed to be Depp’s film, or because in reality Melvyn Purves was indeed an unassuming, understated man and the absolute antithesis of Dillinger. Both of these are perfectly acceptable reasons, they just don’t make for particularly riveting viewing. The other agents are anonymous, difficult to engage with, and worryingly crap at their jobs. It’s also hard to keep track of all the mobsters and the net effect is that the only people you really know anything about, or sympathise with are Dillinger and Billie – again perhaps deliberate but rather manipulative in my opinion if that is the case.

In recreating the era, Mann has done a great job. The costumes, cars and settings all look fabulous. It may seem like an odd thing to say, but the sound was also great, really picking out the unfamiliar and distinctive rattle of the tommy guns and giving an authentic feel to the gun fights. That said, the action set-pieces are actually not that thrilling, and are quite static. Probably why Bob managed to fall asleep at the cinema for the first time in his life! I felt we were left with a film where the whole was sadly less than the sum of its parts. There was none of the cat and mouse chase of Heat, or the suspense and thrilling action scenes of Collateral. Probably a bit more difficult to achieve, given that you are trying to portray real people and events, but still frankly a bit disappointing considering the calibre of those involved. 2.5 / 5

Posted by Michelle